During Lent of 1522 in Zurich, Switzerland a sausage supper led eventually led to the protestant reformation in the country.
Yes, really.
A printer in the city by the name of Christoph Froschauer held a dinner for his employees, various dignitaries, and clergy in the city. He served them thin, crisp wafer pastries and slices of sharp smoked sausage.
As eating any meat during Lent was prohibited, the dinner caused a public outcry and led to Froschauer actually getting arrested!
A priest who attended, but didn’t eat the sausages himself, came to his defense. Huldrych Zwingli, a pastor who already had prior protestant inclinations, gave a sermon entitled Regarding the Choice and Freedom of Foods.
He advanced the protestant position that Lent should be subject to individual rule.
The local Bishop of Kostanz Hugo von Hohenlandenberg was so scandalized by the sermon he prohibited teaching of any Reformation doctrine in Switzerland.
Still, the damage was done and Zwingli ended up becoming a lofty character in Swiss Protestantism.
Historically, the so-called “Affair of the Sausages” is seen as important as Martin Luther’s 95 theses.
The more you know!
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